More than two months since the last CC, here I am again. As foreseen, laziness took over and it takes more and more will to write e-mails longer than a couple of lines…

Let's start with some pics:

the Chinese art of falling asleep in any position or place

the pyjama look: very common!

Guo Qun, my Taiji Quan teacher

Cycling, my main activity during the long week-ends in Changzhou, at the time when I couldn’t travel

I’m leaving tomorrow for Xinjiang and I hope that next time I will be able to send some nice pics!

Take care,

Linda

SARS

The thing everybody was talking about last April and May. I hope there won’t be any future reasons to bring this subject up again and that it will be the last time I have to write about it in the CC.

The media have been very active regarding SARS, way too active in Italy, where they created panic. I tried to smooth the tones in an interview to a local newspaper from my hometown. All I obtained was a frightening article with the title: “My life at the time of SARS”.

Not that Chinese press was any better, even if for different reasons: during the last months, information and numbers were given and then retreated without any embarrassment. Titles as “Everything is under control” were very popular in February and some very reassuring (!!) articles appeared, like: “No foreigner has caught SARS in China”.

When the real situation came out at the end of April drastic measures were taken by the government. After quarantining tens of thousands of people at a time, on May, 17th the China Daily published the article: ”New decree passed for human rights” : it referred to the death penalty for those who should intentionally violate SARS quarantine rules and spread the disease. It continued: “The aim of issuing such a judicial interpretation is to protect human rights, which conforms with the International Covenant on Human Rights”. !!!!

Well, this is China.

In May SARS was part of everyday life: travel was discouraged by very strict controls and quarantine rules, all tourist attractions had been closed, buses and trains were empty, they would measure your temperature even at the motorway exits. In the supermarkets there would be special offers for disinfectant and masks.

Today the official numbers are encouraging, discos and sightseeing spots have opened and people are going to the restaurant again. There are still fever checks on trains and in the stations/airports, but it has become pure routine.

  Temperature check on the train

Working in China

During all these months I always wanted to write about work, but I kept telling myself: wait until you get a more complete view of things. Well, now I have collected more than a few anecdotes and pictures, but I still don’t feel like having a comprehensive view of things.

Everyday something new happens, but while I keep experiencing strange things I start getting used to others, so it’s better that I start writing some down, before everything becomes normal.

Here’s a list of things that belong to everyday life in the joint-venture I work in:

- having a budget of 3 RMB (30 cents) per month for office supplies

- taking turns with the Chief Financial Officer in cleaning the office once a week and finding beetles under the water machine (better than finding a rat on your desktop, as happened to Marco)

- being welcomed by strong loo-scent every rainy day, entering the office building

- seeing people sleep on their desks and at meetings (or reading the newspaper/playing computer games, but this actually happens in Europe, too!)

- banning all women employees from wearing skirts or sandals

- running like hell at lunch time, to get better food in the canteen

- important positions being held by party members. Every week there’s a party meeting within the company

- selling buses and getting paid with lorries, or paying the suppliers with coaches (barter still exists!)

- paper being delivered by shoulder pole

- assembling directly on the floor in the old production line

- the delivery ceremony, with fireworks as a “wish you luck” when the buses leave the company

- the total absence of a car park and the presence of a huge bicycle parking space, including some keepers

- a total of 5 copy machines in a company with 2500 people

- the lack of the concept of “safety on the job”

(to be continued.....)

For more about working in Changzhou click here.